


Anticipation

by umiyuki



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: M/M, Reconciliation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-05
Updated: 2011-09-05
Packaged: 2017-10-23 11:21:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/249760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/umiyuki/pseuds/umiyuki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The thing about Saiki Kanpatsu no Kiwami is that all it can show you is when something will end, not how.  How many rallies it will take to finish a point but not who’ll be the one to score.  How many months it will be before Chitose Senri and Tachibana Kippei reconcile but not who’ll be the first to say <i>I need you</i>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Anticipation

**Author's Note:**

> For Porn Battle XII.

The thing about Saiki Kanpatsu no Kiwami is that all it can show you is when something will end, not how. How many rallies it will take to finish a point but not who’ll be the one to score. How many months it will be before Chitose Senri and Tachibana Kippei reconcile but not who’ll be the first to say _I need you_. Chitose knows with absolute certainty that something is going to change today, that their pride is going to break and one of them is going to close the distance between them.

“Have you gotten your eyesight back?” Tachibana asks when they enter the court, and though his expression is stoic as always Chitose sees the guilt in his eyes.

“Yeah,” Chitose lies, and there’s a flicker of pain across Tachibana’s face.

( _You’re such a shitty liar, Chitose,_ Tachibana would always say when they got caught making trouble at school, and they’d both laugh and Tachibana would reach up to sling an arm around Chitose’s shoulders.)

The thing about Saiki Kanpatsu no Kiwami is that even when you can anticipate how many times you and your opponent will rally, you can never anticipate your opponent purposely taking a tennis ball to the eye. That one takes Chitose completely off guard.

There’s an angry red bruise forming around Tachibana’s eye when he stands up – no blood, Chitose is overwhelmingly relieved to see – but he’s smiling, and now there’s a lump in Chitose’s throat because he never thought he’d see that smile again. Tachibana takes a step toward him.

“This is my atonement,” he says, and there’s a fire in his eyes that pierces into Chitose’s heart. “To share the same wound, the same pain as you, Chitose. I want to prove to you that I’m different now.”

“Kippei…” Chitose has a million things he wants to say but none of them can make it past that lump in his throat, they just stay clenched like a fist in his chest and it aches like grief and joy all at once. He’s about to take a step toward Tachibana himself when the referee yells for them to return to the match.

The thing about Saiki Kanpatsu no Kiwami is that it can predict when the last shot will come but not where it will land. Tachibana hits his _abare-dama_ , the same move that had ended the game the last time they’d played and had nearly ended Chitose’s tennis career in a burst of blood and pain. The illusion makes the ball seem to multiply from one into dozens, and Chitose has a split second to guess which is the real one. _I want to prove to you that I’m different now_ , Tachibana had said, and left it to Chitose to choose whether or not to believe him. To trust him.

Chitose swings to his left side and connects, and the ball soars over the net and strikes right at the baseline.

“Game-set, won by Chitose, seven games to five!”

Chitose clasps Tachibana’s hand over the net, and Tachibana smiles up at him. “You knew?”

“No,” says Chitose, “I trusted you and guessed that you wouldn’t have hit it to my blind side.” The corner of Chitose’s mouth twitches into half a smile. “I guess I’m still a shitty liar, huh.”

Tachibana actually laughs at that. “Yeah, man, the worst.” He grins and Chitose’s chest fills with warmth, and it’s been so long since Chitose felt this good, so incredibly fucking long, and he notices that he hasn’t let go of Tachibana’s hand yet and doesn’t want to, either.

The thing about Saiki Kanpatsu no Kiwami is that it can in no way anticipate the aftermath of a match. It can’t predict whether the opponents will simply part ways, become friends, vow to continue a rivalry, or something else entirely. Chitose wouldn’t have guessed, before the match started, that an hour later he’d be back in his hotel room pulling Tachibana into his lap and kissing him, hard and impatient and desperate.

“Fuck, I missed you,” murmurs Chitose between kisses, running his hands over Tachibana’s back, his shoulders, his thighs, every touch a long-awaited reunion. “Missed you every single day, Kippei.”

“Missed you too,” says Tachibana, arching his back under Chitose’s hands and closing the distance between their mouths again, kissing him like he’s been starved for it. He grinds his hips down against Chitose’s, rubbing their cocks together through fabric still damp with the sweat from their game, and Chitose breaks the kiss to tilt his head back and groan.

“Hnngh, god, _yes_ ,” he pants, “don’t stop, Kippei,” and then Tachibana is tugging their waistbands down just enough to free their cocks before taking them both in his hand and stroking them together, Chitose making obscene, pleading noises into Tachibana’s neck. They've both ached for this, for each other, for months now, and it's not long at all before Tachibana is coming, his grip tightening just enough to push Chitose over the edge too, and once they're spent they just collapse back onto the bed, exhausted, Chitose lying on his back with Tachibana on top of him.

Chitose closes his eyes and takes a slow breath, running his hand over the short golden bristles of Tachibana's hair. "I like your hair like this, by the way," he mumbles.

"Yeah?" says Tachibana, reaching over to take some tissues from the box on the nightstand to clean them both up. "Better than that mullet I used to have, right?"

"Way better." Chitose opens his eyes and looks up at Tachibana. He'd been so certain, not long ago, that he was never going to see Tachibana again. Now here he is, and it's like coming home, so overwhelmingly good it makes his heart ache. "Kippei," he says, pulling his friend down to touch their foreheads together, "don't you ever leave me again."

Tachibana cups the side of Chitose's face in his hand and kisses him just above his blind eye. "I won't."


End file.
